Page 66 of Calling Quarters

“You need to call Remy’s magic to you. Storie, can you hear me?” Tabitha was shouting at the flickering manifestation of the woman I loved. “Focus on Remy and draw the connection. You don’t have to be near each other for it to work. Call his gift to you and use the water from the earth to put the fire out…”

Tabitha’s words faded off when Storie disappeared for good.

“We need to get to her,” I said to no one in particular.

I wasn’t listening to anyone’s response as I reached for the handle on the door and stepped out. Lux grabbed my arm and tugged me back into the cabin, pointing to Tabitha.

He turned my body to face him and placed both hands on my shoulders, forcing my attention onto his icy blue eyes. “We’ll get you there. But you need to listen to her to figure out how to transfer your gifts to Storie and help her get out of this herself. Otherwise, there won’t be anything left to save.”

I considered him for a moment, my chest burning again with the same fear that had overtaken me before. He was right. There wasn’t time. With a stiff nod, I walked back into the kitchen and stood before the old woman, peering down at her expectantly.

“Tell me what to do.”

Chapter 37

Storie

Rayner was wrapping up his speech when my connection with Remy was severed. I was pulled back to consciousness by Beau and his partner carving into my skin with small pocketknives. They made cuts along my arms and legs that formed into odd, wicked looking symbols. The pain hardly phased me as my body had gone numb when I left it to visit Remy.

My head spun as thoughts swam around my mind, circling too fast for me to land on one. I tried to recall what Tabitha told me, but the gasoline fumes were jumbling everything up. Remy’s face appeared before my eyes and the monster in my chest roared to life, reminding me what I was fighting for.

I couldn’t give up. I wouldn’t allow them to use me to hurt him.

Closing my eyes to block out the massive flames licking the sky beside me and the orange-tinted faces it danced across, I focused inward. I imagined myself pulling power from the ocean miles away.

From the damp ground below me that I’d stumbled on during my trek through the woods.

From the living trees in the forest surrounding us.

Even from the gas-soaked wood at my feet.

I pictured tiny drops of water evaporating from my surroundings and gathering into the air until they formed large splashes that fought the flames down into a tamed pile of embers glowing on the blackened forest floor. Those same splashes doused the wood pile at my feet, diluting the gasoline and clearing my senses enough to form a real, coherent thought. Next, my mind had the water lift my body and loosen the ties around my wrists and ankles, so I could slip out of them with ease.

All of this was an illusion. Something my mind chose to focus on as a survival tactic instead of giving my murderers the satisfaction of watching me writhe around in fear as my final moments approached. I’d managed to block out their chants and the deep rumble of Rayner’s voice while he droned on and on to his crowd, too conceited to give up their attention for a few minutes to watch me burn.

Instead, I went to a place in my mind where Remy and I were together without the complications of these supposed gifts that were bestowed upon us by the gods. We were regular people, living a regular life in our tiny bubble of love. Our families never lied to or betrayed us, and our friends were happy and accepting. Everything was perfect, and for a moment, I could breathe.

Those are the daydreams that carried me off into the sky and floated me away.

Up, up, up.

Gone.

Chapter 38

Remy

We were able to find them deep in the woods of the Forbes property based on the vague description Storie gave us. Even without them, I would have hunted her down. Our souls were intertwined and hers was practically screaming for me to come find it.

Rhyse sensed the fire before anyone else and he led the way through the last of our hike. Tabitha managed to walk through the tangled foliage on the forest floor as well as the rest of us, despite her wobbling and limping any other time. I was growing more suspicious of her, and Blaire and I sensed they were hiding something from us. There were just too many unexplained coincidences when it came to them, and it was time Tabitha shared everything she knew about Quarters and Counters.

After we got to Storie, though.

That throbbing fear I’d felt before had faded into a dull ache. I wouldn’t allow myself to consider what that meant for Storie. Instead, I used it as motivation to move forward and get to her as fast as possible.

“What the hell?” Rhyse whispered as we came up to a large clearing of trees.

Bonfire smoke was wafting all around us and people were mulling about across the charred earth. Large embers sat in the center of the blackened circle, providing the only source of light in the blackened abyss.